Gov.-elect Greg Abbott on Thursday took aim at local regulations
affecting tree cutting, plastic bags and fracking, saying that they are
contrary to his vision for the state.

Photo: Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN - Gov.-elect Greg Abbott declared war Thursday on local regulations around the state that affect tree cutting, plastic bags and fracking, saying that cities are mimicking the bogeyman of California with such efforts.

"Texas is being California-ized and you may not even be noticing it," Abbott told the limited-government Texas Public Policy Foundation. "This is being done at the city level with bag bans, fracking bans, tree-cutting bans. We’re forming a patchwork quilt of bans and rules nd regulations that is eroding the Texas model."

Defenders of cities’ right to protect their environment immediately struck back, suggesting that such talk is out of sync with Republicans’ oft-expressed desire for local control - especially for an attorney general who has filed numerous lawsuits accusing the federal government of overreach into Texas’ affairs.

“Governor Abbott is talking out of both sides of his mouth as fast as he can. On one hand, when it comes to the federal government telling states what to do, he says 'local control,’ ” said Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen.

“And so we now have Greg Abbott declaring the state is more powerful than cities or local communities and their desires,” Smith said. “It looks like a Stalinist dictatorship is beginning.”

Abbott took particular aim at tree-cutting measures, saying they amount to “collectivism.”

Numerous Texas cities, including Houston and San Antonio, have tree ordinances. Responding to Abbott's comments, District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg said that “local control is a sacred part of how people govern themselves” and it's necessary that the city protect its residents' ability to do so.

Texas Municipal League Executive Director Bennett Sandlin called it “disappointing to hear the governor-elect wants to overrule the will of city voters on a range of issues.”

“It amounts to the same kind of governmental overreach at the state level that he opposes when it comes from Washington. It has become routine for special interests to run to the state legislature whenever they lose at the local level but Texans don’t want decisions that affect their neighborhoods dictated by politicians in Austin,” Sandlin said.

Abbott cast the argument in terms of property rights.

“Now think about it — few things are more important in Texas than private property rights. Yet some cities are telling citizens that you don’t own some of the things on your own property that you have bought and purchased and owned for a long time. Things like trees. This is a form of collectivism,” Abbott said.

“Some cities claim that the trees on private property belong to the community, not to the private property owner. Large cities that represent about 75 percent of the population in this state are doing this to us,” Abbott said. Referring to the foundation’s name, he said, “Unchecked over-regulation by cities will turn the Texas miracle into the California nightmare faster than you can spell TPPF.”

In San Antonio, the tree ordinance does not apply to developed property. It regulates undeveloped land and prevents clear-cutting large swaths of land.

Jeff Coyle, the city of San Antonio’s intergovernmental relations director, said local officials would work with lawmakers, the governor’s office and others to ensure that municipalities maintain their right of local control.

“We look forward to a healthy discussion and debate about these important local-control tools that we use to protect and enhance the health, safety and welfare of our citizens, quality-of-life, economic development, air quality and military installations in San Antonio,” he said.

In Denton, voters approved a fracking ban that is being challenged by the oil and gas industry and the state.

Austin, Laredo and South Padre Island have plastic-bag bans, and Dallas has imposed a 5-cent environmental fee on paper and plastic sacks to be collected by retailers.

Legislative efforts in the past to infringe on cities’ rule-making authority have met with pushback from those citing the need for local control.

"My vision is one where individual liberties are not bound by city limit signs," Abbott said. "I will insist on protecting unlimited liberty to ensure that Texas will continue to grow and prosper.”

Regarding San Antonio’s tree ordinance, Nirenberg said, “San Antonians have said loud and clear over the last 10 years, beginning with Mayor (Phil) Hardberger, that trees are an important part of our landscape and quality of life and we should have reasonable policies in place to protect them.”

On South Padre Island, local leaders banned plastic bags for a quite tangible reason — they kill endangered sea turtles.

Jeff George, the executive director of Sea Turtle Inc., a South Padre Island-based nonprofit that has worked for decades to help sea turtles in the region, said removing the city's right to ban plastic bags would lead to an uptick in sea-turtle deaths.

The reptiles cannot distinguish the difference between plastic bags floating in the water and the jellyfish they feed on. When the turtles ingest the bags, they're caught by barbs in the esophagus and die.

“If we were to remove the plastic bag ban on South Padre,” George warned, “we would again see a significant number of sea turtles affected medically through ingested plastic bags.”